Mike Walsh, leading Futurist, was interviewed on the future of the connected car. Do the car manufacturers want it? Do customers care? Read below…

Extract of the interview:

The issue with getting consumers to adopt the idea of the connected car is what futurist Mike Walsh refers to as the “manufacturers’ curse.” And Walsh would know, he’s worked with car manufacturers to develop some of this technology, but declined to share names for confidentiality reasons.

“Automotive manufacturers are still unsure of what their place should be with connected cars,” he says. “They still think they’re making metal boxes on wheels. They think they have a close relationship with people who buy them, but they don’t, because cars are sold through dealer networks.”

Car manufacturers and dealers have a tense relationship, Walsh explains, in the same way that phone hardware makers like Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) and Google (GOOG) and phone carriers like AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (VZ) once butted heads over customer data.

“It’s about who owns customer data,” he says. “When the smartphone revolution began, Apple and Google realized it was a prime opportunity to build data to have a stronger relationship with customers, and they overcame the manufacturers’ curse. Teens today will say they have a better relationship with Apple than they do with AT&T because Apple has taken control of this.”

Mike Walsh, futurist speaker, author of Futuretainment and CEO of innovation research agency Tomorrow, helps to prepare business leaders for what’s next.

Everything is changing. All the traditional industries we grew up with – media, communication, finance, professional services and retail – are all in the process of being turned upside down and re-invented. The force behind this revolution is not technology but rather consumer behaviour. After all, as interesting as it is when things change, the real magic happens when people do.